THE KHAKASS

In former times an array of names have been used to denote the Khakass:
the Tatars of Minusinsk, the Tatars of Abakan, the Turks of Abakan, the
Turks of the Yenisey. The Khakass themselves have used their own tribal
designation (sagai, khas, peltyr, shor, koybal, hyzyl-kizhi). The origin
of the name khakass is in the word hagias -- hjagas, used by the Chinese
for an ancient tribe in the Sayan Mountains. The appearance and habits
of this "Kirgiz" people were described in Chinese chronicles in the first
centuries AD approximately. During the Soviet period, the Russians adopted
the name Khakass for several assembled tribal groups. The name stuck and
spread and since 1930 the people themselves have started to use it.

Habitat. The Khakass live in Siberia, on the middle reaches of the River
Yenisey and on the upper reaches of its tributaries, the Abakan and the
Chulym. On an administrative level they belong to the Khakass Autonomous
Region in the Kransoyarsk District of the Russian Federation -- an area
of some 61,900 square kilometres). The northern and eastern parts of the
region are flat steppelands (the Abakan-Minusinsk Basin), while the southern
and western regions are mountainous. The climate is continental, with the
average temperatures between -15 °C and -21 °C in January, and between 17 °C--19 °C
in July.

Population. The data from censuses is as follows:

native speakers

1897

ab. 35,000

1926

?

1959

56,584

86 %

1970

66,725

83.7 %

1979

70,776

82 %

1989

80,000

76.1 %

Although the Khakass have steadily increased in numbers they are nevertheless
a minority in their own country. For example, from 1969 to 1986 the population
of Khakassia increased by 79,000 (from 468,000 to 547,000), a figure greater
than the total Khakass population. In 1959, 48,000 Khakass were living
in Khakassia, forming 12 % of the total population. In 1979 the respective
numbers were 57,300 and 11.4 %. Every fifth Khakass lives outside the borders
of the home region.

Anthropologically the Khakass are of the Mongoloid Central Asian race.
They have dark skin and eyes and coarse dark hair, and beards. Their face
is wide, the cheekbones are not very prominent. The Khakass tend to be
short, with the average male height being 162--164 cm. In some Khakass groups
characteristics of the Uralic race are discernible.

The Khakass language belongs to the Uighur-Oguz group in the eastern Hun
branch of the Turkic languages. It has its genetic origin in the ancient
Uighur language unity. The Khakass language is an aggregation of different
tribal languages, and it has achieved its present form only during the
20th century. More colourful dialectal peculiarities have been levelled
by the unified language. Former tribal languages constitute the dialects
of the Khakass language. The internal Sagai dialect is spoken in the regions
of Askyz and Tashtyp (the Beltyr subdialect forming a special group), the
Katshin dialect in the regions of Ust-Abakan, Altai and Shirin, the Kyzyl
dialect in the Saralin and Shirin regions, the Shor dialect (NB! not the
language) in the Tashtyp region. The Sagai and the Kachin dialects have
the greatest number of speakers and are the most widespread.

The structure and the basic vocabulary of the Khakass language are of Turkic-Tatar
origin. There have been close contacts (as concerns vocabulary) with the
Manchu-Tungus, the Paleo-Asiatic, the Chinese and the Russian languages.
Loan-words from the Mongol and Russian languages occur most frequently,
but unlike the West Turkic peoples, the Khakass language has no loans from
the Arabic and Iranian languages.

The Russian influence, which began in the 17th century, was for a long
time limited to the everyday sphere of life. During the Soviet period numerous
loan-words from the spheres of ideology, administration and culture were
added, and through Russian a number of internationalisms were also introduced
into the Khakass language. At first there were attempts to fit the loan-words
into the Khakass language system but since the 1960s loans from Russian
have been incorporated in almost their original forms while a part of the
adapted loans or the Khakass words have been fully replaced by Russian
words. As a result, the Khakass language lacks a vocabulary for modern
technics and many other modern concepts, and Russian has to be used instead.

History. As early as in the Paleolithic period what is the present-day
Khakassia was populated by pastoral nomads, hunters and fishermen. The
rulers changed (the Huns, the Zhuzhans, the Altai Turks), people wandered
and the borders shifted. From the 6th century the influence of the Altaic
and Uighur tribes strengthened the Turkish ethnic element. During this
period ancient Kirgiz tribes arose, and a little later (the 8th--9th centuries)
the Yenisey Kirgiz tribes, the far ancestors of the Khakass were formed.

In 1207 the region was conquered by Genghis Khan, and his successors in
their turn increased their domains into China. In 1368 the Mongols were
overthrown, and there followed a constant struggle for power (the Oirats,
Yesenya Khan, Altyn Khan). At the beginning of the 17th century the Russians
arrived and gradually gained control of the region. In 1621 the stronghold
(ostrog) of Meletsk was built, and others followed -- Krasnoyarsk in 1628,
Kansk in 1629, Atchinsk in 1641. The nomads were unable to put up a unified
fight against the Russians and they were each defeated in turn (the Arinis
in 1608, the Sagais in 1620 etc.). In 1708 the areas of the Yenisey Kirgiz
tribes were incorporated into the Russian Empire, and the local peoples
were required to start paying tribute (up to 6 sable furs per person),
with the idea that "Tsar Peter would protect them and make them his subjects."
Their independence was crushed although at first it seemed that they were
able to maintain their autonomy. The Khakass areas were divided into counties,
each governed by a local prince. They were helped by Cossacks in collecting
taxes and in maintaining order. The Russians did not intervene openly in
the local life of the Khakass.

In 1822 a code of laws on non-Russian peoples compiled by M. Speransky,
was published. In this code their administrative divisions, taxes and tributes,
and legal status were established. It was actually an inventory, meant
to make the economic and ideological (orthodox) supervision more efficient.
The resulting constant debts, large numbers of Russian immigrants, the
despotism of Russian bureaucrats, Christianization and russification broke
the self-confidence and independence of the Khakass. Russian policies and
Russian settlers were inconsiderate to the locals. For instance in 1876
missionaries not knowing the local language, simultaneously baptized 3,000
people in Askyz, naming all the men Vladimir and all the women Maria.

In 1905 there was a stirring among the Khakass. On November 1 and 2 a meeting
was held in Askyz, and the problem of restoring local authority was discussed.
Needless to say autonomy was never regained.

Soviet power was established in 1923, and the standard changes were inflicted
on the Khakass. Co-operatives and collective farms were formed and the
"kulaks" were liquidated. The Khakass Autonomous Region was formed in the
Krasnoyarsk district. Militant atheism fiercely attacked Khakass shamanism
and the existing veneer of orthodoxy. As far as the economy was concerned
traditional cattle rearing continued, but at the same time a greater emphasis
was placed on areas which had previously been less familiar to the Khakass
(agriculture), or which had been completely unknown to them (industry and
technology). Because of developing industry it was possible to settle large
numbers of immigrants in Khakassia. The settlers established themselves
in towns, in industries, in trade and transport etc., with a condescending
attitude to the local "blacks". Everyday life came to be dominated by Russian
and the importance and the prestige of the Russian language was constantly
highlighted. The Khakass language and culture dissolved into Russian popular
culture.

Writing. A Chinese chronicle Tan-shu (618--907) mentions a written language
of the Yenisey Kirgiz tribes, Turkic script, in comparison with the written
language of the Oirots. In the 7--8th centuries at the latest, the ancestors
of the Khakass were using an old Turkish script, however by the 14th century
this practice had ceased. In the 17th century the Kalmyk written language
was used to communicate with the Russians. At the end of the 19th century
N. Katanov began translating religious literature into Khakass and works
by the Khakass authors M. Kokov, N. Domozhakov, N. Arzhan were published.
In 1924 a new alphabet (Cyrillic), and a new written language based on
the Katchin dialect were introduced. Textbooks for schools and translations
from Russian were published, and, in 1926, the education of children in
the Khakass language was begun. In 1929 the written language switched to
the Latin alphabet, but in 1939 the Cyrillic alphabet was reintroduced.
However, long before the new written language could be consolidated, Khakass
was bombarded by the Russian language which resulted in numerous loans,
the introduction of Russian orthographic rules and so on.

Today the Khakass written language has been improved on the basis of the
Sagai dialect. The literary language has, in its turn, played an important
role in the levelling of dialects. Since 1927 a local newspaper Lenin Choly
(The Leninist Way) has been published, literature and cultural life have
been dealt with in Hyzyl aal and in the Russian language Yenisey, Sibirskie
ogni etc. Local radio and TV programmes are partly translated into Khakass.

Research. The first data on the Khakass language and its dialects dates
back to the 19th century. In 1857 A. Castrén's study of the grammar of the
Koibal and Karagass dialects was published (Versuch einer kobalischen und
karagassischen Sprachlehre). Next, in 1884, came a dictionary of the Altai
and Aladag dialects by V. Verbitsky. This was followed by ethnological
studies by N. Katanov (1907) and V. Radlov (1929). During the Soviet period
research into the language continued in connection with the introduction
of a new written language. A. Kazanakov worked out the orthography of the
literary language and wrote the first text-books. In 1944 an Institute
for Research into the Khakass language, literature and history was founded
in Abakan, and began organizing the collection of material on dialects,
the standardization of the literary language and research into Khakass
and its kindred languages. A theoretical treatment of the grammar of the
Khakass language was published in 1948 by N. Dyrenkova, and a Khakass-Russian
dictionary in 1961 (D. Tshankova). Some monographs on dialects (on the
Sagai dialect in 1948, on the Katchin dialect in 1959) have also been published.